Classic Poem

VERSE 1

Did you ever stop to figure that this very life we lead
Was led by our ancestors, don't you know?
We imagine that we're living in an age of mighty speed,
But to tell the truth we're absolutely slow.
For fashions, fads, and fancies always are and always were;
Tho' they rave about progression,
There's been nothing new occur.
Ev'rything is just the same as when they wrote the calendar,
And that's over nineteen hundred years ago.

REFRAIN 1

The same old hard luck stories from the hard luck boys;
Good luck boys have the good luck noise.
There is nothing surer,
The poor are growing poorer,
The rich are making money by the ton.
For it's the same old world, it's full of smiles and tears,
And ev'rything that's going on's been going on for years.
If the track is clear or muddy,
Size up ev'rybody
And you'll find there's nothing new beneath the sun.

VERSE 2

Just to prove we're not progressive, the theater of today
Is the place where people mimic and pretend;
There's a hero and a shero and a villain in the play,
And the hero whips the villain in the end.
Why don't someone write a drama where the villain wins the day,
Why don't someone have a show without a hero in the play?
Just because they've always had him it will always be that way,
The theater hasn't one progressive friend.

REFRAIN 2

You hear the same old songs about the same old coons,
Few new words but the same old tunes.
Dashing on before us,
We see the merry chorus,
And ev'rything they do you know's been done;
You hear the same old jokes that make the same old hit,
The scen'ry's just the same but it's been painted up a bit;
You can ask most any showman,
Inquire of Charley Frohman
And he'll say there's nothing new beneath the sun.

VERSE 3

For instance, take the City of New York and look around,
It's just where it originally laid.
There's Wall Street under cover, there's the subway underground,
And there's no one seen the money Morgan's made.
Why, the Brooklyn Bridge was thought of as a wonderful affair,
But we used to get to Brooklyn long before the bridge was there.
And before McClellan's time we had a City Hall and Mayor,
Things are as they were and will be, I'm afraid.

REFRAIN 3

Why there's the same old Bow'ry of the old-time day,
Same old town and the same Broadway;
Cut a few new capers,
One or two skyscrapers,
You'll see them all in twenty minutes run;
Then there's the same old Sullivan, the same old Tim,
In case you break a window, why it's best to be with him.
Why, it's just the same old city
As when Croker grabbed the kitty,
So there's really nothing new beneath the sun.